To think 3 hrs to clean a 1 bed flat is ridiculous?

[PassTheSatsumas]

I've just tried a new cleaner on a friend's recommendation to clean a 2 bed flat (but not spare bedroom so really a 1bed) -she insisted it would take her 3 hours

Although she did clean the oven which my regular lady (2 hours but has skipped turning up now and again) never does, I think she is chancing her arm at 3 hours for a regular clean

Any suggestions on a) how to find someone good (not got v far with recon) b) how to make sure it's not just a good clean the first 1-2 times and then trails off

It's just me and I am pretty tidy: I can thoroughly clean myself in 2 hours so querying this extra time (and looking for someone else!)

Btw -NW London if anyone has a recco and would like to PM me, but that might be expecting a miracle!

Well, my 4 bed house takes me all day to do properly, if I include jobs like the oven. Depends what you're asking her to do, surely?

How long do you think it should take?

May not be worth her while doing less than three hours, particularly if she has far to travel.

About 2 hours - same as it takes me. Poss extra 30 min the first time - what do you think?

Oh, sorry you said 2 hours. I dunno it doesn't seem too outrageous if she's cleaning the oven as well.

Margery - I think this may be the issue as she charges my friend 3 hours for a 1 bedder and has to pay tube fare from that. Am going to put up a card in a local shop window to see how I get on

We have a 1 bed. Someone comes 10hrs a week! That does include all laundry and ironing and some childcare etc, but I would say 3-4 hrs is what she spends cleaning including bedding etc.

If you think about it it takes the same time to get hoover set up, mop out etc to clean a 3 bed as a one bed. Same with washing. It would take same time to wash a full load as half load

I have the same 2 bed flat but not asking soare bedroom to be cleaned and have always paid for 3hrs. I think it is a minimum that most cleaners would do (understandably). I have always been pretty amazed at what my cleaners have managed ie oven/windows/changing bedlinen/fridge etc. Not everything every single week but always a thorough clean and then something extra like oven/fridge etc.

My son has severe dust allergies so our bedroom needs to be done really thoroughly.

I have a 1 bedroom flat and my cleaner does 2.5 hours a week (though I pay her for 3 hours in case it takes her slightly longer). I think 3 hours is reasonable for a weekly clean, although my cleaner does also change sheets and tidies the kitchen.

It depends what you're expecting I suppose. Cleaning the oven seems a bit OTT for a regular clean, but my cleaner does 2 hours and I have a 4 bed house

She does everything I would consider regular weekly jobs but I do the "spring cleaning" type things, like clean the oven, move the furniture, was the woodwork etc

3 bedroom house, 3 hours a week to clean and do ironing. She's amazing though as what she does would take me all day but yes I think 3 hours for 1 bed flat is far too long. Unless the cleaner is moving furniture and essentially doing a 'spring clean' every week?

A cleaner who has to travel and pay for transport to you may want to work a minimum of three hours to make it worthwhile

If you only want two hours you may be better finding someone who lives very close by

I've found cleaners by personal recommendation or byy my local mum's fb group recommendations

If she seemed good otherwise I'd try saying you only want two hours and see what she can do in that time. If she cleaned the oven perhaps she finished the normal cleaning early and was looking for jobs

OK, assuming:

dusting/polishing
Vacuuming and wiping of skirting boards
Clean bathroom
Clean kitchen surfaces
Mirrors and inside of windows

Takes me 1.5 hours - as long as this is all actual cleaning and not tidying/putting away. If I included oven cleaning in that I'd up it to 2 hours (assuming you use an easy bag thing for the shelves and a spray-on-wipe-off for the inside). So if she is doing anything in addition to all of this then 3 hours is probably not unreasonable; but I would expect a really good standard as my timings are based on being quite thorough.

Our cleaner does our one bed flat in four hours a fortnight. Including oven and fridge deep clean, bed linen change and washing, ironing a few bits if I need on top of the standard cleaning, dusting and vacuuming. Could easily up that to three hours a week - she is mega thorough though.

How much tidying up does she have to do? Or washing up? Those jobs can take up a lot of time before any actual cleaning can happen.

Absolutely no tidying or washing up...

I'm not thrilled with this cleaners standards so plan to look elsewhere . I'm really amazed by how many people have said they have 3-4 hours in a flat! 2 friends with 3 bed houses get 2 hours a fortnight so clearly cleaners vary quite a lot!

Has she seen the property? Just wondering if she is over estimating in case it's messy to be on the safe side? If she has seen it and knows it's small then perhaps she is a chancer

Thank you all for your replies.
Reading through I would say it looks like 3 hours is either a spring clean or ironing, and 2 hours is plenty for a normal clean of a 3-bed der.

I think this lady wants 3 hours to make it worth her while (travel), but that is more time than I need so will aim to find someone local instead

Yes - this was when she came round. Same as my friend across the road's (smaller,1 bed) flat : it's just business, and I don't think we are a match!

I think 3 hours is a reasonable amount for that size of home. My flat is that size and when I hire a cleaner we ask for 3 hours and there's always more they could have done after 3 hours.

I had a 1 bed - cleaning, dusting, hovering, turning out bed, and cleaning the skirting boards/windows took me a max of 1hr30, an extra hour maybe if I felt lazy that day and I'm not some kind of super-organised cleaning expert either. I hate cleaning and am slow and grumpy throughout. So I think 3 hours is ridiculous. It takes me 3 hours to clean my 3bed and sort out garden!

It takes me 30 mins to properly clean bathroom and 1hr to clean kitchen alone ( that's with no clutter). So add on the rest of the house, bedding changed etc 3 hrs is easy. Takes an hour at least to hoover if I do it by the time you move furniture and hoover the edges with nozzle etc

What PaulDacres said.

If it's being done thoroughly and properly, 3 hours is not unreasonable. By thoroughly, I mean the basics of wiping baths and hoovering carpets but also all the smaller cleaning jobs that add up time-wise such as changing bedding, all inside windows cleaned, dusting all lampshades, wiping down inside and out of bins, wiping and hoovering behind furniture not just around it, cleaning down the sides of the sofa, washing down the woodwork, cleaning wooden blinds (all individual slats can take forever to do), fridge, oven, microwave, cutlery drawer thorough clean, food cupboards tidy out & clean.

After 3 hours, esp if no ironing to do, your 1 bed should look like a show home and if it does then I think that's probably not worth bringing the 3 hours down to 2 or 2.5. If it doesn't look like a show home then I would reduce the hours/change cleaners.

JennyPocket -good advice and v good list

It's not show home standard :(